RR#103 - Crush the buying cycle

As entrepreneurs, we’re learning all the time.

And a painful (but productive) ‘lightbulb’ moment for entrepreneurs is when they realize that selling doesn’t start on the sales call.

Instead, there’s an entire ‘buying cycle’ before that moment.

Every client or customer who’s paid you has gone through some process prior to taking that action. For better or for worse.

And the better you understand that process, the better you can optimize it, the more sales you’ll make, and the easier your sales calls will be.

I’m going to share what the Buying Cycle is, why it matters, and something I do to nail every stage of the process.

And it’ll take you less than 3 minutes to read.

Here’s How ‘The Buying Cycle’ Can Help You Crush Sales

What the ‘Buying Cycle’ is: The entire journey your customer or client has gone through to become a customer.

Why the ‘Buying Cycle’ matters: If you’re only marketing to people who are ready to buy what you’re selling, you’re ignoring about 90% of the market. And missing loads of opportunities to nurture people who would’ve otherwise become customers.

Let’s go:

Awareness

Description:

When the prospect becomes aware of your business. They may have stumbled upon your website, seen a social media post, or heard about you from someone they know. It's the initial point of contact between you and your potential client.

How To Nail This Stage:

Don’t try to sell them; it’s too early. Slow it down a little bit. Give them something of value that will actually help them. Something likely to boost your credibility.

Interest

Description:

When the prospect becomes interested in what you offer. They might start browsing your services, reading your blog posts, listening to podcasts, or subscribing to your newsletter. This is when they start engaging with your brand and with your content.

How To Nail This Stage:

Avoid the temptation to oversell at this stage, too. When a prospect is engaging with your content and your marketing ecosystem, it’s an opportunity: To confirm you can help, to build some brand authority, and convert interest into intent (the next step).

Introduce some qualifiers at this point to rule out bad fits and let good fits know you’re the top choice for them.

Intent

Description:

At this stage, the prospect starts showing signs that they are intending to buy. They might send a connection request on LinkedIn, fill out a contact form, or book a call with your sales team. It's a clear indication they're considering doing business with you.

How To Nail This Stage:

Don’t mistake intent for having made a decision (the next step).

Make sure your booking funnel asks the right questions, helps expose some of their pain points, and reinforces that you can help them.

Ideally, you have solid booking funnel: a form with strategic questions, a ‘thank you page’ with additional content for them to consume, and a pre-call sequence to boost show-rates and confidence in you as a service provider.

Decision

Description:

At this stage, the prospect decides to go ahead with you as the service provider. They've weighed the pros and cons, considered their options, and decided that your service is the best fit for them.

How To Nail This Stage:

Make it easy to take action.

If you’ve got a functional set of funnels and processes, there shouldn’t be a lot of friction in going from a decision to taking action (the final step in the process).

They should know exactly where to go, what to do, and what to expect next.

Action

Description:

The final step in the cycle: this is when the prospect completes the purchase. They've made their choice, they've pulled out their credit card, and they've take the acton to become a client.

The buying cycle is complete, but your relationship with the client is just beginning.

How To Nail This Stage:

Get a badass onboarding process in place.

When someone pays you high-ticket money, the first 24-48 hours are crucial.

If first impressions suck, you’ll see a lot of buyer’s remorse, chargebacks, and churn. Create as smooth a process as possible, and make sure it’s executed consistently.

Nobody wants to leave money on the table.

But when you don’t properly leverage the Buying Cycle, that’s exactly what you’re doing.

If that’s you, I hope this helped.